Gaither not kicking down barriers at Otterbein

Men should not feel threatened when Alana Gaither, with her long blond hair flowing from underneath her helmet, joins the huddle before attempting an extra point or field goal for Otterbein.

Gaither is not trying to crash the boys’ party. All she wants to do is kick the football through the uprights.

In the first place, the men did ask her to come out for the team at Akron Firestone High School and Otterbein.

“The varsity kicker quit the football team to play soccer when I was a freshman in high school, and the coach asked players from both soccer teams if they would give it a try,” Gaither said of Tim Flossie, who won two state championships with Akron Buchtel and has been a coach for 32 years. “He really needed help, so I gave it a try.”

Gaither converted 6 of 7 field-goal attempts and 45 of 47 extra-point attempts. Her longest field goal was 43 yards. She missed from 48 yards.

It appeared that Gaither would play only soccer at Otterbein until another college offered her the opportunity to play soccer and try out for the football team.

Cardinals women’s soccer coach Brandon Koons and former football coach Joe Loth matched the offer of playing both sports.

Gaither didn’t play football or soccer as a freshman last year after suffering a broken left ankle and a torn ligament in a soccer scrimmage.

This year, she kicked three of her four extra-point attempts in a 54-10 victory over Wilmington. Nick Ganus, a sophomore, is the starting place-kicker.

Gaither missed her first kick — “No excuses, I just shanked it,” she said — but her teammates were very supportive.

“My teammates were telling me they knew I could make it,” Gaither said. “They told me to stay strong.“I just want to focus on how great the coaches and players have been to me. They are the reason I’m out there. I want to help us win games. It was the same way in high school; I had great teammates. My teammates here know I’m not out there for attention.”

“It’s special what Alana is doing, but you would never know it watching her go about her business,” he said. “She is so team-oriented.”

Gaither said she doesn’t get nervous before a kick.

“I get more nervous when I’m speaking in public,” she said. “When you go out there, you do the same things you do in practice. Kicking is a lot like golfing. So much of it is technique.”

The hard part is balancing two sports. Gaither missed a soccer game on Saturday to play in a football game against John Carroll. The Cardinals won 21-7, but she did not attempt a kick.

“(Koons) and the girls have been so good about this,” Gaither said. “I’m coming late to soccer practice. They have been so encouraging. I thank them.”

It’s wait-and-see for Ohio’s Tettleton

Ohio University coach Frank Solich said quarterback Tyler Tettleton must practice by mid-week in order to play at Massachusetts on Saturday. He sat out a 44-10 victory over Norfolk State last Saturday because of an undisclosed injury to his right side.

“We’ll give him a couple of days off,” Solich said. “We’re into always taking this one game at a time, and that includes Tyler.”

Redshirt freshman Derrius Vick completed 14 of 20 passes for 199 yards and four touchdowns against Norfolk State. He tied a team single-game record for touchdown passes, set by Cleve Bryant.

Tettleton was injured against New Mexico State on Sept. 8 but played in a 27-24 victory over Marshall the following week. In fact, he hit Ryan Clark for a 26-yard touchdown pass on fourth down in the fourth quarter.

“Tyler said it took everything he had to complete that pass,” Solich said. “That speaks of his toughness.”

Ohio is 4-0 for the first time since 1976. It is 29th in the Associated Press media poll.

“I’ve paid attention to it some,” Solich aid. “Our program is not to the point where we can look that far down the road. We have not separated ourselves from anyone in the MAC. We’re just trying to survive in our conference.”

Two-headed quarterback at Kent State?

Kent State could be using two quarterbacks after backup David Fisher had some success moving the team in a 23-7 victory at Buffalo last Wednesday.

Fisher went in for Spencer Keith in the first quarter and completed 7 of 13 passes for 93 yards. He was intercepted once.

“I thought we needed a jump-start,” coach Darrell Hazell said. “There is a good chance you will see both of them on Saturday. They both give you different things. They both give you different strengths.”

Keith, a senior from Little Rock, Ark., has thrown for 6,803 yards and 33 touchdowns in his career. Fisher, a junior, is a transfer from Palomar (Calif.) Community College.

The Golden Flashes’ strength against Buffalo was Dri Archer and Trayion Durham running for 127 and 112 yards, respectively.